A woman with a mental illness at a clinic in Burundi. War and humanitarian disasters are adding to the global mental healthcare burden.
Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Global failure to tackle depression and anxiety is costing the world nearly $1 trillion a year in lost productivity and causing “an enormous amount of human misery”, according to a study that urges the international community to make mental health a priority rather than leave it languishing in the shadows.

The analysis, led by the the World Health Organisation (WHO), found that without scaled-up treatment, a staggering 12 billion working days – or 50 million years of work – will be lost to depression and anxiety disorders each year between now and 2030. It puts the annual loss to the global economy at $925bn (£651bn).

However, the cost of increasing psychosocial counselling and antidepressant medication over the next 15 years is only $147bn. Not only would such an investment drive a 5% improvement in labour force participation worth $399bn, it would also add a further $310bn in improved health returns.

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The study, published in Lancet Psychiatry and based on health treatment costs and outcomes in 36 countries, is billed as the first worldwide estimate of the health and economic benefits of investing in treating the most common mental illnesses.

Its authors say every $1 invested in scaling up treatment for depression and anxiety leads to a $4 return in better health and ability to work. They argue that all countries, regardless of wealth levels, need to invest more in mental health services. According to the WHO, governments on average spend only 3% of their health budgets on mental health, with the proportion ranging from less than 1% in low-income countries to 5% in high-income ones.

“We know that treatment of depression and anxiety makes good sense for health and wellbeing; this new study confirms that it makes sound economic sense too,” said Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the WHO.

“We must now find ways to make sure that access to mental health services becomes a reality for all men, women and children, wherever they live.”

Arthur Kleinman, professor of medical anthropology and psychiatry at Harvard University, said every country needed to ensure that mental health was treated as a humanitarian and development priority.

“We need to provide treatment, now, to those who need it most, and in the communities where they live,” he said. “Until we do, mental illness will continue to eclipse the potential of people and economies.”